By JOHN MacCALMAN,

Municipal Correspondent

AS POLICE began preparing a detailed report for the procurator-fiscal

on Wednesday's helicopter crash at Eastwood, Strathclyde's Deputy Chief

Constable, Mr Peter Mitchell, announced that the police helicopter

service had been suspended.

Residents were returning yesterday to all but five of the 21

retirement flats which were evacuated, as Strathclyde's Chief Constable,

Mr Andrew Sloan, flew back 24 hours early from a conference in

Washington for a briefing on the incident.

There was no suggestion at yesterday's meeting of the region's police

and fire committee that the helicoper evaluation project, due to run

until the end of March, should be abandoned.

The last of the wreckage was yesterday taken to a police depot. At the

weekend, it will be transported to Farnborough for examination.

The questions about the wisdom of flying the single-engined Bell

JetRanger helicopter in blizzard conditions and whether the crash was

caused by the conditions or mechanical failure will be tackled in

private by a Department of Transport inquiry.

A decision on a fatal accident inquiry, which would make the facts

public, will be taken by the Crown Office once all the facts are known.

Mr Mitchell hinted to the committee yesterday that it might be

possible to provide limited air support to the force within the next few

days.

However, it is assumed that it will be some weeks before there is a

return to the level of air cover that had been provided since the start

of the evaluation period on November 1.

Chairman of the committee Councillor William Harley, extended sympathy

to the family of Sergeant Malcolm Herd, a father of four who died in the

accident, and the two other police officers and the civilian pilot who

were injured.

Inspector John Muir and Sergeant William Shields were able to walk

from the wreckage, but the pilot, Mr Graham Pryke, of Liddesdale Avenue,

Paisley, was severely injured.

He was in a critical condition in the Southern General Hospital with

severe multiple injuries. Inspector Muir, of East Kilbride, and Sergeant

Shields, of Giffnock, are expected to be released today from the

hospital.

The accident happened in blizzard conditions as the helicopter flew to

the scene of an armed robbery. Its rotor blades are believed to have

clipped the side of a three-storey block of pensioners' flats before it

fell about 70ft to the ground.

The helicopter was a Bell JetRanger, used for Radio Clyde's traffic

reports. The aircraft normally used by the police, a MBB Bolkow 105 DB,

leased from Clyde Helicopters Limited, had been taken off operations.

A full inquiry will be conducted by the Air Accident Investigation

Branch on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport.

In addition, a preliminary report on the accident was being prepared

yesterday by a senior Strathclyde police officer to be followed by a

detailed report to the procurator-fiscal.

The police and fire committee yesterday was to consider an interim

report assessing the value of the helicopter service. The report pointed

out the great value to the force in a whole range of activities,

including searching for missing persons, monitoring traffic patterns,

carrying out anti-crime patrols and assisting in the policing of

football matches.

However, because of the crash, the committee agreed to continue

consideration of the report.